In the final phase of the US Presidential election, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are leaving no stone unturned to woo voters. While Harris is trying to leverage her prosecutorial past to explain how she would prosecute the former president, Trump has questioned the vice president’s racial identity.
Republican presidential candidate Trump has launched a racially insensitive attack on Kamala Harris, asking her if she is “Indian or black”.
“I’ve known her for a long time, indirectly, not directly, and she was always of Indian descent, and she was just promoting her Indian heritage,” Trump said at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago.
“I didn’t know she was black until several years ago, but then she came out as black and now she wants to be known as black,” he said.
Even after the comment turned into a massive controversy, the 78-year-old reiterated his anger by sharing a photo on social media that shows Kamala Harris’ “Indian heritage”.
Sharing the photo on Truth Social, Trump said, “Thank you Kamala for your beautiful photo sent many years ago! Your warmth, friendship and love for Indian heritage is so appreciated.”
Trump has a history of attacking his opponents on the basis of race. He falsely accused the country’s first black president, Barack Obama, of not being born in the United States.
Trump attacked former United Nations ambassador and his Republican primary rival Nikki Haley, falsely claiming she cannot become president because her parents were not U.S. citizens at the time of her birth.
And now, Kamala Harris.
Kamala Harris’s mother Shyamala Gopalan was Indian and her father Donald Jasper Harris is from Jamaica; both had immigrated to the United States.
She is seeking to become the first Black female and Asian-American president in US history and her entry into the 2024 election has seen a surge in enthusiasm for her candidacy among Black voters and young people — groups through which Trump has tried to broaden his appeal.
Trump’s controversial remarks come as the race for the November 5 presidential election has gained momentum, with opinion polls showing that Vice President Harris, who was suddenly projected as the presidential nominee less than 10 days ago, has narrowed the gap with her Republican rival.
Harris on Wednesday denounced Trump’s comments, calling them “divisive” and the “same old gimmick” of “disrespect.”
“All I want to say is this: The American people deserve better than this. The American people deserve better than this,” Harris said during a speech at a historically black sorority convention in Houston.
A July Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll released Tuesday showed Harris had erased Trump’s lead in the seven states likely to determine the election, leading the former president 48% to 47% — a statistical tie. The poll also showed that in those states, Harris had the support of 75% of black voters, while Trump had 19%.
